No subtitles though. Which, following my theory from yesterday, means that Shahrukh used to love me and was telling me through subtitling his videos. But now no longer loves me and is breaking up with me through NOT subtitling his videos. WHY SHAHRUKH???? WHY???? I’ll change for you! I’ll do whatever you ask! Just take me back!
Do you know Pritam? If you don’t, he is the composer who does the really light happy catchy pop type songs most of the time. And he is also the composer who is most likely to plagiarize. And to write sexy stupid songs with repetitive lyrics that you can’t get out of your head. So, whenever I admit that I love his music, I feel kind of ashamed of it.
But, it’s like sunshine! You listen to it, and suddenly you feel like you are driving a convertible, top down, through an open field with the sunlight pouring in and all’s right with the world. Even his stupidest tunes, just heaven. I was going to put in a bunch of his songs to lead up to this one, but turns out I’ve already done a Pritam themed posts, so just go here
And then there’s the singer. Shahid Mallya, who I had never heard of. Took a quick look at his filmography, looks like they bring him in whenever they need a really “Punjabi” voice. That kind of slightly rough folksinger sound, and able to really rattle through Punjabi lyrics. Like “Iski Uski” from 2 States. So, I’m reading the filmography, okay okay okay, know that movie and he only did one song, don’t know that movie, that was a really tiny budget film, BAM! Udta Punjab! Oh yeah, this guy is GOOD!!!! The songs from Udta Punjab are, just, mwah! You know? We have to buy that Shahid Kapoor’s character is both a super popular artist, and a real artist. And Shahid Mallya manages both, the crazy catchy hip-hop stuff, but also that really soaringly beautiful “Ikk Kudi”.
Most importantly, his voice doesn’t sound “off” coming from Shahrukh. I had a really hard time with Arijit Singh doing his voice in Dilwale because it was just a little too far off from his natural voice, and also from the kind of Udit Narayan sound I am used to coming out of him. But this I can live with. Or maybe it’s just that Shahrukh is playing the character with a slightly rougher tone of voice, I didn’t have as much of a hard time with Arijit singing for him in Raees, when he had a harsher character over all and his voice reflected that.
Okay, actual content time! And before discussion, the video itself! So we can all see the same thing before making judgements.
I feel like he is saying something really important before he starts singing, but what?!?!?!? I got something about how she has never heard a Punjabi song, or him sing a Punjabi song, or something. And maybe something about how that will make her attracted to him? I am confused. He also seems really angry somehow, and she seems confused/scared. Which is an odd opening for this peppy Pritam tune. I am assuming that there is some kind of slight shading to the exchange that I can’t get without subtitles which will make it all make sense.
For the rest of the song, it seems like they are not just in love, but in like, right? Although, it’s Imtiaz, they could actually fall in like before they fall in love. I hope they do, that is what makes Imtiaz’s films stand out for me, the way he builds those connections. I hope they are thrown together, they don’t like each other right away because they both have such strong and different personalities.
But then they come to enjoy each other and the relationship builds naturally in a way that surprises both them and the viewers.
And then I hope they have some time of just being really really happy together without putting a label on it (perhaps what the “Radha” song is showing).
And then they separate and slowly realize that what they were feeling was love, not the big romantic/sexy love that maybe they have felt with someone else, but a deep abiding love.
dontcallitbollywood 
Hey M, apparently checking your blog right after checking SRK’s twitter in the morning is just one of those things I do now.
“I feel like he is saying something really important before he starts singing, but what?!?!?!?”
At the start of the video, he is saying, (lemme do my best to translate the Punjabi/Hindi mix)
-0:03 “Do you know why Punjabi singers sing so loud?”
0:09: “They have loud voices”
0:12 “Know why?”
0:15 “They are farmers. They sing when they are on the tractor. To hear their own voice, they need to sing louder than the sound of the tractor.”
And then he breaks into song. And I died, what else is new.
I love the Punjabi shades in the movie. It’s being pulled off very well, very legitimately. My Punjabi ex-roommate just confirmed how on-the-money his Punjabi really is. All the cursing he did in the last one, and the dialect of this song – just spectacular.
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And at the end, 2:12 he says “Nice, sweet, sister type. Can you make it hotter. Arrrghhhh.”
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Also did you notice how some of the locations were same as/similar to the places he spoke to Anupama in the Beneath the Surface interview? Were they filming at least parts of Radha during the interview?
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Oh, and also (Sorry for the string of comments)! I found a rare interview I hadn’t seen before. (This almost never happens to me, so I am a tad excited.)
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You have probably watched way more interviews than I have! That’s a big gap for me, there are a few (the Koffee interviews, the Inner/Outer interviews) that I have seen a whooooooooooole bunch, but there are so many out there, I really haven’t tried to capture the rest of them.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 9:10 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes! I did notice that. Based on what we have seen so far, and common sense, I suspect that their location shooting stayed pretty much on the same few streets in the same area, for Radha and for walking-talking scenes in Portugal. It would just be easier that way. And also easier to have the interview take place in that same zone, so you could get back to your hotel quickly and know the area and all of that.
When they were filming Dhoom 3 in Chicago (so cool!!!!) every shot was within the same like 3 locations, all within about a mile of each other.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 9:04 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ooooh! Alright, I will try and find you some of the best ones, (with captions, hopefully). This is my absolute favorite, and I don’t think there is a better one.
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You mentioned inner/outer world, KWK; Have you seen the Simi Garewal ones? Both of SRK alone, and of ShahRukh Gauri together?
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I haven’t! Really, it’s just Koffee and Inner/Outer. Every interview is good, of course, because he is so so so so so smart. But there are also so many of them! And he kind of says the same thing (in slightly different very entertaining ways) over and over and over again. So I sort of wait for someone to alert me to a super good one, or for one that I know will be super good (like anything with Karan).
Plus, of course, any of the more in depth written ones. That Huffington post one last year after the failure of Fan, that one was FASCINATING.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 10:58 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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This one is Shah Rukh-Kajol-Karan, and it is hilarious, with the three of them picking on each other, laughing. The best part of this is how absolutely casual they are, almost like they have forgotten the camera is there. Rajeev Masand does a great job of just letting them talk to each other, and sort of facilitating the conversation, so I love it.
And you should definitely try the Simi Garewal ones on youtube. (I think they have captions? They are speaking English 99% of the time anyway.) These ones expose a different side to him – he is particularly vulnerable in the solo interview, but with Gauri next to him, he is much more grounded and cocky in the second half.
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I think I may have seen that! At least part of it. That is also why that first Koffee appearance is so hilarious, right? Karan is trying to be all grown up and serious, and Kajol and Shahrukh are just needling him mercilessly until he “breaks” and forgets the camera is there.
I love his interviews with Gauri, or photoshoots, or any time they are together. You can really feel the extra confidence boost she gives him. I mean, he has the same confidence books with Karan or Farah or any of his other super super old real true friends. But I think it’s especially sweet seeing it with Gauri. Always reminds me of that speech at the end of Billu, where he talks about how lonely he is and he just wants his old friends back. Because of course in real life, he still has Gauri who has known him and liked him since he was nothing.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 11:39 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That is so great! I thought he was saying something like that. But he is saying it with this great sexy-but-slightly-too-much that makes it more of a joke, you know? It’s not completely like he would be with a little kid, but it’s also not a real come on.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 9:03 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Okay, that dialogue is really interesting, considering the kind of angry way he says it. He isn’t joking about his background and culture, he is being serious and wants her to be serious. I wonder if the Punjabi/Gujurati thing is going to be more than just a gag, like in Chennai Express, but a legitimate part of their conflict?
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 9:00 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Exactly my thought! And the first thing I thought of was how proud SRK sometimes is of being a Pathan, and I think some of that might reflect into how he plays being Punjabi, if that’s the vibe he and Anushka have going on. It will be fun to see.
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Yes! A Pathan and a Delhiwalla. The few movies that let his character actually be from Dehli, have you noticed, his whole line delivery changes? And posture and everything else. In the same way you see it in real life, when he gets really really angry (which thankfully he doesn’t let us see much, because it’s scary!) his Hindi changes A LOT. And his gestures and everything shift too.
I’m from Chicago, which has its own kind of “tough guy” accent to it. And my father does the same thing! When he is casual and professional and everything, it’s a kind of neutral midwest accent. But when he has to be tough and scary, it gets all Chicago-y (not often, my father isn’t the tough guy scary type most of the time).
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 10:55 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The Delhiwala thing has never been more obvious than in Fan! I know what you mean! Particularly, he did a Podcast as Gaurav during the promo, which is literally him answering questions as Gaurav, and someone asks him to imitate his hero, Aryan, and Shah Rukh flips between Gaurav and Aryan seamlessly, and it has never been more apparent the ticks he puts on for the Delhiwala.
Or maybe – he is actually reverting back to honesty (than putting on a front) to be Delhiwala?
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I think it’s that, that he reverts when he plays a Delhi character. Not to “honesty” exactly, but to a different version of himself than he usually presents. The charming Bandra movie star is real too, and so is the cosmopolitan world traveler. But down deep there is that middle-class kid who lived in an apartment block and got into fights and had a little gang and all of that. I mean, he was middle-class, we know he wasn’t like roaming the streets with a gun looking for fights. But he didn’t have a bodyguard or a driver to fight his battles for him, he had to argue with the rickshaw guys and fight for tickets in the movie lines and all that stuff.
And when he gets to play a Delhi character, there is a certain authenticity to it that isn’t there with his Bombay or NRI characters, because he is drawing on his real childhood. At least, I think so. And it’s not just him either, I think Ranbir for instance always had a little extra something when he plays a lost little South Bombay/Bandra boy, because that was his life. Or Saif, when he gets to play the wealthier higher class characters, in Rangoon (which I mostly hated) it was really neat to see him in a tuxedo using Oxford style English and all of that, instead of pretending to be some middle-class college student.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 11:42 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Bless you for the translation!
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Is this the one you mean – Huffington Post one?
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/07/01/the-shah-rukh-khan-interv_n_10765942.html
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Yep! There’s a post on it somewhere in the archives here. You can see that it is one of those interviews where she caught him at the right time and in the right mood to get really deep, not just give the little jokes and surface stuff we have all heard a million times before.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 11:40 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am watching DDLJ again tonight! 🙂
Just asking, no pressure, asking out of curiosity more than anything else, but when do you think you will write another DDLJ post? Do you usually update them on a schedule?
Again, sorry if I sounded like someone harassing you to talk about just ONE thing when you post so many other interesting content topics on your blog.
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You are so nice to worry about harassing me! The next DDLJ post, as it happens, I just finished writing last night and it is going up tomorrow.
Here’s how it works, DDLJ and posts like that, I write whenever I have time (on Saturdays, I usually get up, run errands, and then sit at home writing for 8 hours). And then I schedule them out the next day I don’t already have something scheduled. But if something big comes up, like if Vinod Khanna dies again or something, I have to write a last minute real time post and end up pushing my scheduled post farther out so I don’t get clumpy with the posting.
This is part of the reason it is helpful to have a schedule for things, Monday Malayalam, Hindi 101 on Tuesday and Thursday, and so on. That way I know what is “due” tomorrow, and what I can write in advance and schedule for next week sometime.
I am debating how to make posts like DDLJ “due”. Wednesday and Thursday don’t have something big scheduled (besides the Hindi Film 101, which gets so few views it doesn’t really count). I could put it there. But I kind of like having them as open days, for any random movie I happened to watch that week and want to talk about. It might turn out being “Hindi classic Thursday/Wednesday” and if I don’t have something already in mind, I will do another DDLJ.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 7:18 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It must take an immense amount of discipline to write like this! (I am a fan!)
That you write a bunch of stuff on Saturdays and schedule them – I could never do it like that! What’s the secret? How do you make yourself sit and down and just write?
Have you throught about writing a weekly DDLJ post also on Saturday, or is that just too much work? And simply out of curiosity, do you typically get more hits/readership if you post on Saturdays or Sundays?
(I will stop trying to ask you a bunch of questions. I pinky swear.)
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Questions are good, they help me think!
Writing has always been the easiest thing in the world for me. I can write 10,000 words a day, no problem. My usual speed is about 50 words a minute. The only problem is finding the time. My perfect Saturday is getting up in the morning and writing all day, so that is my “treat” for the weekend.
I can only get about 6 posts done in a Saturday (at least one of them being the review of the film I saw the night before), and then the rest are during the week when I can find time. So Saturday is for whatever I feel like writing that day, sometimes my Malayalam post, sometimes 3 Hindi Film 101s in a row, sometimes a fanfic, whatever. And then I scramble to get everything else in around my work schedule. If you pay close attention to the posting, you will notice there is a big burst on Monday and Tuesday (that’s when everything already written over the weekend goes up), and then sometimes it holds steady for the rest of the week (like this week), and sometimes it drops off dramatically because I got busy at work and had meetings or fun stuff after, and didn’t have time to write.
The advantage of the Monday and Tuesday regularly scheduled posts is that it gives me a deadline to work around, and I can plan for them. When I go on vacation, I can write a whole string of Monday posts and pre-schedule them. In theory I could do the same for the DDLJ posts, but I haven’t figured out the best schedule for them yet.
As for weekend posts, it’s all about the Friday film release. If there is a new movie, and I put up a review, and then a spoiler review, and then a podcast link on Saturday, tons of hits, and it carries over into Sunday. If there is no new movie, it’s slow on Saturday and really slow on Sunday (which is why I put up my self-indulgent fanfic posts on Sundays, I know only the hardcore readers will be reading anyway).
On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 1:57 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Your writing schedule sounds fascinating! And we all appreciate all the effort you put into writing these posts. I mean, I just googled “DDLJ analysis” one day and here I am, having read almost everything you have written. So thank you very much!
Follow up question: do you also watch Hollywood movies regularly, and does your perception of those movies changed after you spent time studying and enjoying Indian cinema?
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I do not watch Hollywood movies, I just don’t have time! I mean, I was talking about my writing schedule, but I also have to squeeze in 3 new movies a week there too, along with writing.
I did study film in America though, and I didn’t find Indian films until I was 19. So I had 19 years of watching American classics exclusively, which gave me a pretty good grounding in Hollywood cinema. And then I had another 10 years of taking film classes where they forced us to watch about 50% mainstream Hollywood, 50% non-mainstream Hollywood, and absolutely nothing Indian. So I’ve got a really firm grounding in American film, both independent and mainstream. And kind of scattered bits of knowledge about South American, Russian, Chinese, etc. If you read my post on Chinese film and Zhu Zhu, that’s about the level of knowledge I have for every film industry in the world. And then for Hollywood, it’s only slightly less than Indian.
Truly, after studying aaaaaaalllllllllllll of these industries, I think Indian film is the best. The artistry in the images is just on another level from anywhere else. Not if you look at the worst Indian film and the best Hollywood/Chinese/Russian/whatever film. But if you look at the products as a whole, I think Indian film is more purely filmic than any other industry.
On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 3:18 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Is it consistent of American film schools to not teach anything Indian at all? Is there a reason for that, something we are doing/not doing that they deem not worthy of study? This is fascinating, because Karan says it all the time – if you are going to go abroad to study films, go for a great experience in a foreign land. Education abroad is great if you want to make films abroad. But if you really want to learn Indian film trade, come back and work on a film set as an extra hand. He says, “my only training ground was DDLJ. That was my school. Everything I know about filmmaking, I learned on the set of DDLJ.”
As far as schools go, that’s not a bad place to start. At all.
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It’s the same as any other traditional Indian art form, it’s just so incredibly different form anything that the West is used to (for a whole variety of historical reasons I that I go into a little bit in my post on nepotism in film). Ever since WWI, the Hollywood style of film (meaning everything from plot to the types of workers on set to funding to studio structure) has dominated European film. So American film schools and European film have a very simple one to one relationship.
It takes aggressive promotion on the part of a non-European film industry to get people to notice them in America. And it takes making movies in the “American” style instead of the natural style. So, Lagaan. Chinese film had it’s own “Lagaan” period in the 1980s, Japan did immediately post-WWII, Iran is in the middle of one now.
Only while you are making movies that are chasing the American critical audience, you usually lose your audience at home. Lagaan really did not do that great in India, especially compared to Gadar (a film which would never ever play overseas). And the American critical audience ends up having a skewed view of what is available from another culture, thinking it is “good” if it is “American”.
Anyway, for my film school experience, I had one teacher who showed us Charulata and “Dola Re Dola” for Indian film. I had a couple world cinema type classes, we watched films from Cuba, Russia, Sweden, Nigeria, China, Japan, no Indian. There are a few people around in Western film studies who are serious about Indian film, but it’s not very common, and it is not considered part of the “core” things you need to study.
Even if you do learn about India, you learn about it as kind of one of many world cinemas, not that big of a deal. Not as a massive artistic tradition as old and as powerful as Hollywood.
On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 4:08 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you very much for answering my questions about both your writing process and American film school programs. If I can follow up again, would you mind talking a little bit about your career/job now? I am just curious what people who study films and who write books on films go on to do as a daily day job. Thank you for being so accommodating!
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There are no jobs writing/studying films. Nothing! Which I knew going in, I just wanted the degree for my own satisfaction. If you see people who write for money on The Internet, most of them have a separate “real” job that pays the actual bills. The writing jobs aren’t “real” jobs any more. And in academia, except for a few very very lucky people (the odds of getting one of those jobs are about the same as getting a job as a professional athlete), it’s the same thing. You teach classes, you write, you do a whole bunch of other things (most often, live off your parents’ money), and somehow you make a living.
So, day by day, I wake up and go to work for 8 hours at the account management job I’ve had for 6 years (I started as a part-time receptionist and worked my way up). Totally unrelated to what I am interested in studying. Which is why I have the blog! So I get to use all my thoughtfulness here.
In a larger sense, I do feel a sort of obligation to share knowledge with the world, and since all the traditional alleys are closed to me (although I would LOVE to write for an actual publication, or teach a class anywhere, all the many many many many many applications I have sent out have been rejected), I blog instead.
On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 5:42 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It is half disheartening and half comforting to me to hear that? I am in a job I don’t particularly get a lot of enjoyment out of. So, I do the things I love outside of work, and use the job simply as a way to keep paying the bills. I really don’t know what kind of jobs people with degrees in film can pursue. Have you ever thought about reviewing movies for papers or magazines or channels? Do you think this would have been different if you were based out of India?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, just curious.
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In America in general, salary jobs are disappearing. Newspapers, magazines, websites, they don’t really have “staff” any more. Or if they do, it is a skeleton staff, a movie reviewer isn’t really considered necessary. For those kinds of things, it’s about paying people piece by piece. Which is fine if you have a trust fund to carry you along while you wait for your next assignment, but not so great if you need an actual job. And yes, I have thought about it, believe me, I have sent in pitches to many many many many many places, and never gotten a response.
It might be different if I were based out of India just because my understanding is that in India newspapers and magazines still have an actual staff. Just for an example of what I am talking about, Kathy Gibson, who runs accessbollywood.net, used to work for a local newspaper in her area giving little local updates on Indian film. That paper folded, now she runs her website and asks for donations to keep it going (just like I do).
Anyway, the good news is that once the economy switches so that everyone has their job for rent, and their other job for enjoyment, you feel much more relaxed about that rent job. it doesn’t define you, no one really cares about it.
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I read the huffington post interview, and I see why you said it made you worry about his marriage. He talks a lot about having Abram helped him get over loneliness, and he needs a relationship in his life that comes with zero expectations. That’s – new? Different? I have read/heard some of this kind of dialogue from him before (typically the loneliness part) but not the rest.
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Also because, he says his marriage with Gauri has been focussed on the kids. At some point, (I am assuming after Suhana turned 11 or 12 and didn’t need them as much), they must have sat down and had a conversation about having a third child. That something was missing from their life, perhaps? I find it a little poignant that neither of them are able to be self sufficient in each other, something that a lot of empty-nesters find challenging.
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A long time ago, before the children came along, newly married and in love, they managed to be completely oblivious of the world, sucked into each other.
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Is this the holi video? I love that video!!!! Not just because of the in-loveness of it, but because you can tell they were high school sweethearts, right? I mean, they are clearly a young newly married couple. But they also have clearly been dancing together like this for almost a decade. I couldn’t see any other couple having that combination of “young and just don’t care” but also “know each other inside and out, can anticipate every move because we know each other so well.”
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 7:54 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, the Holi video! I watch it everytime I just want to smile, and to remember that true love (even if it is an illusion, or a temporary state of bliss) exists.
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Ha, I just wrote a response to your last comment that said almost exactly this!
The other thing that hit me just recently, I don’t know why it took this long, was that they had AbRam when Aryan was the age Shahrukh was when his father died, and Shahrukh was the age his father had been. That’s always been such a fear for him, leaving his children with nothing the way his father left him. And I am sure it was just generally a fear, I think it is for everybody whose parent has died, you always assume you won’t outlive them. So I could believe that there was a huge rush of relief and happiness after that milestone was passed, and part of it was a decision to have another child, without all the hangups and fear that was around for Suhana and Aryan’s childhood. And Yash Chopra died around that time too, Shahrukh’s other “father”. There were a lot of things happening that I could see resulting in a decision of “we always talked about having a 3rd child, let’s just do it.” Or in “I never thought about what I wanted past this date, because I never thought I would make it past this date, and now I think I want a 3rd child, I want to make art films, I want to stop working as hard” etc. etc.
And it certainly seems to have worked! I mean, the whole family, older siblings included, just dotes on that baby. It’s not like getting a puppy for Christmas and then complaining about all the work it causes, this was a baby that they were ready for and consistently happy to have around.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 7:50 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love this analysis! The fear he had/has regarding leaving his children father-less is such a visceral, human thing; and it makes sense that Abram would sort of be the representation of “Okay. I am ready. I refuse to be cowed by this fear any more.”
Also, how cool is it that we know so much about his life/inner workings to make some fairly reasonable assumptions and analyse his life; and most of it is due to Shah Rukh himself being accessible and open. The man is an open book. There is very few things about him that he keeps away from the limelight, and that is quite a rare quality in a star with the kind of following he has. Can you think of any other actors/stars in Hollywood, or even in the Indian film industry with such access?
I remember Karan once saying in a panel that the most respected stars in the country are those that are accessible. Mr. Bachchan always replies to texts in minutes. Shah Rukh always returns phone calls. He never hesitates on favors or assistance if it is in his power to give. It’s only the wanna-be(s) that pretend like they’re too busy to not be open/accessible.
P.S. You just posted the next DDLJ post, and I am dancing for joy, and I am going to go read that now and fangirl over there!
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Karan goes into that more in his autobiography (such a fascinating book! Another one of those things that replaces hundreds of hours of interviews, you can just read it and get the full in depth version of all his little talky tidbits), when he is talking about why he set up KWK the way he did. He wanted the living room couch feeling, because he sincerely thinks it is good for people, and good for the film industry, to reveal how they are when they are sitting around in living rooms. That it is a strength for stars to be so open and accessible, and they shouldn’t be afraid of it. He’s not trying to “catch” people into revealing something they shouldn’t, he is trying to help them and believes this is the best way.
And Shahrukh is absolutely an example of that! He is so open about his past and his sadness and his history. Without feeling like he is being overly dramatic or playing for attention. Or even kind of making himself “naked” to the public in a way. Nothing he says is more than what you might learn about someone over, I don’t know, a really long interesting dinner party. We aren’t being his therapist or his priest or like that. But you do feel like you actually met him and got to know him, for real, at the end of one of those interviews. In a way you just don’t with a lot of the other stars.
Oh, and bringing it back to tiny AbRam, I feel like you can also see that in how joyful the whole family is with him. Like he is a marker of success, of a new beginning, for all of them. It reminds me kind of of how sometimes cancer survivors will have another child, or couples reunited after wartime, a sign of hope.
On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 1:48 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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He also talks about how he and Gauri relate more as parents now than as people. It’s just so worrisome!!!!
But then, he was also clearly cycling through a period of minor depression, so everything was a little bit on the deeper downer side in how he talked about it (can we agree that Shahrukh is moderately manic-depressive? I mean, it’s kind of obvious).
anyway, I ran it by a friend of mine who is slightly younger than Shahrukh but going through a similar parenting phase (kids are about to leave home) and she said it all sounded perfectly normal to her, when the kids get older you do start looking at your partner thinking “for the past 18 years, it’s been kids-kids-kids, who are we now and do we even like each other?” Shahrukh was just being honest about the situation.
On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 7:47 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Spot on about the manic depression! Do you remember the Season 3 KWK episode where Shah Rukh went solo? It is the most clear instance of when he was in a sort of strange mood, his sadness and angst shining through. it is my favorite Shah-Rukh-Karan conversation, but I remember thinking; “what’s happening in that head of yours, Shah Rukh? What’s hurting you?”
Karan feels like that visibly. You can sort of tell.
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I may have to go back and watch that KWK, although it sounds depressing. I don’t want to say he should be on medication or anything, but he does clearly have mood swings that are a little bigger than normal, from crazy fits of energy and optimism to depths of thoughtfulness and concern. And we know mental illness runs in his family, plus his childhood would have been enough for anyone to lose a little bit of mental stability.
And again, so unusual that we know this much about his family background, and this much about his emotions, to be able to feel we can make this judgement! Although, on the other hand, it is still no more than you might know about someone you got to talking with at a party, he isn’t telling us about a suicide attempt or that he is seeing a psychiatrist or on anti-depressants or anything like that. Just that his parents died when he was young and sometimes he feels really really down.
On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 1:49 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It’s officially 25 years of SRK! Deewana released June 25, 1992. It’s June 25 in India!
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Yaaaaay! And now I am torn between celebrating SRK and celebrating pride. Only not really, because I already scheduled my Pride posts, so I guess that’s it.
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